With Benedictine University's 18-9 win over MSOE in the opener of a doubleheader on Saturday, 40th Year Head Baseball Coach John Ostrowski claimed his 900th career victory.

Ostrowski joins an elite group of coaches as just the 10th coach in NCAA Division III history to reach the marker and only the eighth with the same institution. Ostrowski is the sixth active coach to reach 900 victories.

Ostrowski began his career at Benedictine prior to the 1973 season. Upon taking the reigns, Benedictine won eight consecutive conference titles. The Palos Park native has scored 20 or more victories in 29 separate seasons during his time at Benedictine.

Ostrowski's teams have laid claim to the conference title on 16 occasions, appearing in the NCAA Division III Regional seven times. The 2000 team won a school record 32 contests. Ostrowski has coached nearly 40 All-Region honorees and seven All-Americans.

A 2003 inductee into the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association (IHSBCA) Hall of Fame and the Lewis College Hall of Fame in 2007, Ostrowski also served as an assistant football coach at Benedictine for many years and also held the positions of assistant athletic director and acting director of athletics.

Tom Higgins packed much of the punch in the opening win, blasting a pair of grand slams to drive home a career best eight runs. Tim Hendricks knocked home four runs while Mark Belcastro threw eight innings on the mound to up his record to 6-0 on the season.

Benedictine won the nightcap 13-2 in seven innings. Dan Zust finished 4-for-4 with four runs scored and five RBIs, homering twice. John Cervantes also knocked in four runs. Mike Irgang was the victor, tossing 5.2 innings. The Eagles owns a 13-11 record this season, 7-3 in the Northern Athletics Conference. Benedictine welcomes Dominican University on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.